


Far Beyond

by RubyDragonQueen



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, honestly I don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27688067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyDragonQueen/pseuds/RubyDragonQueen
Summary: As Durnehviir flew across the skies of the Soul Cairn, he saw  a small speck of dark ocean blue on the horizon- a color he had almost forgotten, a color nowhere to be found in the soul cairn, a color he hadn’t seen since he had last been to Nirn. A small blue box, to be precise.The Doctor didn't expect to land in a random pocket dimension on what was supposed to be a short trip to pick up repair parts for the TARDIS- but well, you never know what's going to happen, especially flying with a damaged TARDIS, and this place seemed utterly fascinating.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Far Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> ...I don't know where the idea for this crossover came from. I really do think these two would get along though, and Durnehviir deserves a friend.

“Cmon, cmon…” The doctor darted around the TARDIS console, frantically trying to get it back under control.

She’d known that this was likely to be a risky trip, but 21st century earth just didn’t have the tools to make even a basic tonal gravitron stabilizer, so naturally she needed to go somewhere else to go get one.

She’d told the fam she was just going to pop out for a quick supply run- worst case scenario, she could still be back right as soon as she left!

(Assuming, of course, that the repairs didn’t break as soon as she tried to fly, and then end up bringing her back far, far too late like what happened with Amy…)

A crash echoed throughout the Tardis. Ohhh, that definitely wasn’t good.

Sure enough, the Tardis’s internal gravity listed dangerously to the side, right as the Tardis fell out of the vortex.

The Doctor whirled around, trying to ensure a stable landing as she frantically checked all the readouts-

She’d somehow managed to land in a pocket dimension, and one not even properly connected to her own at that.

Getting the Tardis out of here at best would be a nightmare, and with a damaged Tardis, near impossible.

Of course, impossible didn’t mean much to the Doctor.

Still, it wasn’t likely to be fun- it could be, though. You never know with pocket dimensions! Sometimes they’re full of all sorts of fun junk.

Usually though, they’re either empty or actively hostile.

* * *

Once the Tardis had finally landed, she pulled a screen down, switching it to a view of the surrounding area.

Well, at least this pocket dimension didn’t look _completely_ empty, though not far from it.

The TARDIS was perched on top of something tall, there was a vast, largely empty landscape surrounding them in all directions. The only features were crumbling black stone towers dotting the landscape, one of which they were sitting on top of. The ground seemed to be exclusively grey ash and dead shrubbery, the sky a dark, ominous purple.

It went far further than most pocket dimensions too, stretching out further than TARDIS’s sensors could detect- and not a single life form to be found.

She could see several figures of some kind faintly moving on the TARDIS cameras though, so potentially robots. Always fun to try and unravel and understand, robots are.

Given that the TARDIS itself was perched rather precariously on top of the stone tower, it was probably going to be stuck there till she managed to repair it properly and fly out.

The Doctor was sure she had some kind of climbing gear somewhere in the TARDIS that should work. She was pretty sure she’d last seen it a few regenerations ago in the third tennis court- she can’t remember why she’d put it there, only that it had seemed very important at the time.

Sure enough, there was a climbing harness with tethers and magna-grab gloves and shoes sitting in there.

Ah, that’s why it was there! (She never did get around to repairing the ceiling light. Oh well, she’ll just make a note and get to it eventually.)

(The TARDIS hummed disapprovingly, knowing full well she would not get to it eventually.)

As she was heading back to the main console room, one of the TARDIS’s many, many different alarms went off.

“Oh, which one is it this time!”

The question was answered when she came back into the console room, and “Attempted intrusion” flashed across the screens in the bold loops of Gallifreyan.

She turned on the cameras, and-

Fascinating.

A massive, seemingly half-rotted reptilian head could be seen poking at one of the cameras.

“Now, what exactly are you…”

* * *

Durnehviir was bored.

Not that this was an unusual occurrence for him.

(The soul cairn wasn’t the most interesting of places after all.)

He flew through the same clouded purple sky, over the same solid black ruins, hearing the same wails of all the other souls trapped here.

Exactly the same as it had been nearly every day for thousands of years.

It had been better for a time- He’d met Qahnaarin, Dovahkiin, Slayer of Alduin, and for a time, they’d been able to call him to Nirn.

Sometimes they called him to help vanquish their foes, sometimes to talk to the other dragons, (oh how he missed Paarthurnax) sometimes just to let him see the skies and nature of Nirn.

It had been a long, long time since they had last called him. He could only assume they were dead.

Even the most enduring among mortals didn’t last long in comparison to the lifespan of a dragon.

And now, he was alone once again.

Wait.

There was a small speck of dark ocean blue on the horizon- a color he had almost forgotten, a color nowhere to be found in the soul cairn, a color he hadn’t seen since he had last been to Nirn.

As he flew closer, the speck resolved itself into a distinct shape- a small blue box, with unknown writings on it, resting precariously on one of the towers.

What the fuck.

He’d never seen anything quite like it on Nirn, in the soul cairn, anywhere. He settled onto the tower himself, peering at the text curiously.

* * *

The Doctor was ecstatic. TARDIS sensors didn’t register the creature currently climbing around the TARDIS as living- and yet it seemed to very clearly not be a robot, given that the sensors weren’t picking up any kind of metal. (Most synthetic bio ‘robots’ would still register to the TARDIS as alive.)

“What are you, you fascinating creature…”

A low rumble echoed through the TARDIS speakers from outside- the translation circuits whirring through the processes of decoding a new language before they could relay a single sentence-

“What… are you?”

A being after her own heart.

* * *

She rushed to pull on the climbing harness, looping the hooks around a convenient handle just inside the TARDIS doors, before pulling the doors open.

“Hello! I’m the Doctor!”

The intruder leaned back, curving their neck upwards to look down at the Doctor.

They were far more imposing viewed in person, their head alone as large as the Doctor herself. 

Their forelimbs were similar to a bat’s wings, (except obviously far larger) though seemingly more articulated given the way they were easily able to grab onto the tower. 

The webbing of the wings was torn and cut through with rot and slime- really, their entire body was, but the wings most so.

Their legs seemed somewhere between a Tyrannosaur and a bird of prey, and their tail and back were covered with pointed ridges.

They tilted their head to look at the Doctor- though she was unsure how much they could see, given that their eyes seemed clouded over by a film of rot and slime.

“Hello Doctor. I am Durnehviir.” (The TARDIS telepathic circuits supplied that the name translated more literally to ‘cursed with undeath’.) They continued, “How have you come to this place? None have entered alive in a long time.”

“Well.” The Doctor gestured to the TARDIS. “Had a bit of an accident on my way to get repairs. Crash landed here by mistake.”

“...That is a vehicle? One capable of crossing the walls between dimensions?”

“Sure is, and that’s not all she can do!” The Doctor replied.

Durnehviir tilted his head upwards, monologuing to the violet skies. “...How long has it been, since I have last seen Nirn…”

“Well. I can’t quite answer that for you, even aside from not knowing where Nirn is or your life history, cause you see, gorgeous here also travels through time!”

“...Incredible. Such a small vessel and such power…”

“Oh, you’d be surprised!” The Doctor chimed in. “Here, come in-” She quickly looked over the size of Durnehviir’s shoulders relative to the TARDIS doors. “Or, ah, stick your head inside.” She darted back into the TARDIS.

“I sincerely doubt that there will be enough room-” Durnehviir froze as he poked his snout into the TARDIS. “Fascinating. A pocket dimension of some kind?”

“Bit of an oversimplification, but yeah.” The Doctor responded. “Don’t think I can get the door big enough for you to get in without some serious effort though.” 

She went back over to the console. “Looks like there isn’t any new damage at least, but I’m not going to be able to get back out of here safely without replacing the stabilizers, even a makeshift fix could at least get me somewhere to get a proper one…”

Durnehviir wriggled a little further in, his neck reaching almost to the console.

The Doctor paused, looking up from the console. She walked over towards him, hesitantly extending a hand towards his face.

He leaned forwards slightly, till her hand made contact with his flesh.

He practically melted into the touch, leaning into her hand with a low keening whimper.

His flesh was rotten and slimy to the touch, her hand sinking in between the few remaining scales. As he leaned further, she could feel something hard underneath the slimy muck- the rot went all the way down to the bone.

She spoke softly. “Does it hurt?”

A gentle rumble. “Unimaginably so.” He sighed, the noise echoing throughout the console room. “It has been… so long, since I have seen another besides the broken remnants who dwell here.”

He reluctantly pulled away. “You are not of the same kind as those I have seen here before.”

The Doctor shook the last few clinging remnants of rot and slime off of her hand before sticking it into her pockets. “I’m not human, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That much is obvious in that you are not dead already. This place is… hungry, for lack of a better word. It consumes lifeforce, and for beings with a limited supply of it, it can be quickly fatal.”

“Ah. Well. Suppose it’s good I didn’t bring the fam here with me then.”

“If they are human, then immensely so.” He sniffed around what he could reach in the console room. “What is it that you require in order to leave? If it can be found in this place, I could help you obtain it.”

“Well!” She pulled a screen down towards Durnehviir. “The tonal gravitronic stabilizers are broken. This place doesn’t look like it’s got much obvious technology, but that doesn’t mean I can’t figure something out.”

“Hm. This place may not be much for technological marvels, but it is deeply steeped in magic. If you have the skill, there may be a solution.”

“Technology, Magic… Two sides of the same coin, really!” The Doctor started. “Only difference is if you know what’s going on and how it works.”

Durnehviir smiled. “Then, allow me to tell you everything I know about this place.”

“This place is known as the soul cairn. It was created an unknowable amount of time ago by powerful beings with mastery over life and death who sought further power- beings who called themselves the Ideal Masters.” 

“This place draws in souls… there are crystals, known as soul gems, which can under the proper conditions capture the essence, life force, spirit and soul of a being as they perish. The energy so stored can then be used for countless magical purposes- but the knowledge of how to use them directly has long since been lost.” 

“Instead, the technique known now works with the Ideal Masters- though that fact too has been lost to time. The energy of the soul gem is sent to them, and they return the power needed to enchant items, or occasionally for other uses.” 

“The soul then, stripped of all power and will, is rendered a husk, an ethereal insubstantial wisp, left to wander this empty plain in torment for all eternity.”

* * *

The Doctor listened with rapt attention to Durnehviir’s explanations, mumbling to herself and scribbling little notes onto a pad of paper she’d pulled out of somewhere as he went.

Once he finished talking, he readjusted his hold on the tower outside the TARDIS as he waited for her to process all that he had shared.

“That’s… fascinating. Horrifying too, don’t get me wrong, that anyone would use people like that, but I’d bet a Zartolian feast that those ‘soul gems’ are actually usable for a lot more things if I properly harmonize the tonal resonance and clean them out so to speak with the neutron flow from the TARDIS engine, so if I could get enough of them, since I’d definitely need to experiment a bit, preferably large ones, I could manage to fix this.”

She turned to look up towards Durnehviir. “One thing that’s been bugging me- The one thing you haven’t explained is how you ended up here. You don’t have the same insubstantial physical form as these remnants you’ve described, you’ve got too much independence to be a direct construct of these so called ideal masters who run the place- terrible name, you just know they’re going to be awful tyrants by the name alone.”

Durnehviir chuckled. “That is not an inaccurate judgement. As for how I got here.” He paused. “That, I’m afraid, is entirely my own fault, and a story I’d rather not get into.”

Durnehviir seemed genuinely uncomfortable at the question- well, the Doctor assumed that was what that face meant. Facial expressions were always kinda tricky, especially with a species you didn’t know well, but she could make some guesses. “Ah, no worries.” The Doctor smiled. “Live long enough and well, even with the best intentions you’ve got plenty of chances to rack up mistakes.” So many companions lost, everything that had happened to Galifrey, oh how she still missed-

Durnehviir cut off that train of thought by bonking his horns on the TARDIS ceiling as he started to wiggle out. He ducked sheepishly, adding “I can take you to the places where the gems are located, though it will be a decently long flight.”

The Doctor followed him out of the TARDIS.

He extended a wing towards her, and she climbed up the offered wing onto his back, settling between his shoulders. “Let’s get going then!”

“Indeed.”

He launched himself off the tower, and into flight.


End file.
